Little star!
Autistic boy who barely spoke comes out of shell watching UK astronaut Tim Peake – saying 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast-off!
HAYDEN Geraghty did not utter a word before the age of three, and even after that he rarely interacted with others.
But the autistic schoolboy suddenly came to life watching Major Tim Peake travel into space.
As the British astronaut set off for the International Space Station, Hayden began shouting at the television: ‘10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1… blast-off!’
The broadcast triggered a transformation in him, his parents believe – because at that moment, he discovered a passion for space. Now aged seven, he attends lectures on the topic and has met his heroes Major Peake and physicist Brian Cox.
His mother Caroline, 39, a carer, said: ‘That day, watching Tim Peake’s mission started something in him. Usually he would flit from one thing to another quite quickly but the launch captivated him like nothing had before.
‘The first thing he started to do and say was the countdown from ten to one, with the blast-off.’
She added: ‘ This then moved on to learning and talking about zero gravity. It started coming in gradually and now he talks normally like any other child.’ Since the day he watched Major Peake’s launch in December 2015, Hayden, from Limavady, Northern Ireland, has become fascinated by space.
Mrs Geraghty said she and her husband Anthony, 42, a mental health worker, had often wondered what Hayden would do in the future. ‘Now we are starting to see that, well and truly. He wants to go to Mars,’ she said.
Mrs Geraghty started to realise that Hayden was different when he was ten months old. She noticed signs such as his inability to make eye contact.
It was not until he was five that he was diagnosed with autism, and later ADHD. Hayden said his first sentence – ‘What’s the craic?’ – when he was four.
Speaking about the moment her son watched Major Peake go into space, Mrs Geraghty said: ‘He watched the whole thing with the countdown and his passion went from there.’
Hayden now constantly asks questions about space and his confidence has grown astronomically.
He even met Major Peake at a science festival in Belfast and the astronaut signed his helmet. Mrs Geraghty wants parents of autistic youngsters to realise that a passion can change everything.
She said: ‘From what’s happened with us, it’s made a total change to his development. It’s been incredible.’
‘Now he talks like any other child’